The goal of a performance management system is to propel business by growing market share, reducing costs, increasing top-line sales, and helping companies become more competitive. To make that happen, the strategies for managing performance must be focused on the fundamentals of what people need to do differently, and where they need to raise the bar for their performance.

There's a vital need to connect individual performance with organizational business objectives. Achieving this critical alignment means driving the right behaviors to ensure success.

Everyone wants to work at the companies where strong performance is recognized and rewarded and top performers are treated as organizational assets. Equally, the next-tier of solid performers are valued for their contributions and poor performers need to improve or be placed elsewhere.

Applied Research's performance strategies practice helps build the foundational formulas for success by challenging employees and leadership. That means a strong focus on acquiring, retaining, and developing talent for today and the future.

Applied Research's Talent Management Processes help your managers to better identify talent and calibrate potential by building rigorous succession planning and selection processes, creating an environment of robust discussion, and establishing clear standards and expectations for performance. We also help your leaders become better coaches, so that they can provide constructive feedback and development to elevate the performance of your organization's talent.

What Does Applied Research Do?

We work with your competency models, or starting from scratch to identify the factors that will drive success, we differentiate top performers from poor and mid-level performers. Our focus is not only behavioral but also practical. We create user-friendly models that can be used and implemented in your performance management systems - from talent acquisition to succession planning.

We support your existing talent acquisition processes by creating behaviorally based interview guides. Applied Research's interviewing approach goes beyond the types of questions most often used in interview guides. We work with you to train your managers to elevate their interviewing skills and help them learn to identify the candidates who possess desirable competencies and have the right motivation to be a long-term fit within the company.

When it comes time to manage your talent for the long-term, Applied Research creates practical succession planning processes that align with your regular management practices. Applied Research's succession planning processes rely on clear criteria and we help you calibrate standards to facilitate cross-functional, cultural and company comparisons. A core part of our succession planning processes are development plans and coaching, both of which will help to accelerate the readiness of top talent and ensure a pipeline of leadership prepared for the all types of business challenges.

New and experienced managers, as well as individual contributors, can all benefits by improving their coaching skills. Applied Research uses its proven coaching model to teach managers to go beyond the observable behaviors to diagnose performance and anticipate obstacles to success. By delivering feedback that both defines the impact and the consequences of an individual's actions, a clear and specific action plan is created. Tailored and realistic cases, along with peer and facilitator feedback on coaching behavior, underscore the rich learning environment.

Applied Research works in partnership with you to instill a performance-driven culture that is consistent with your organization's principles, vision, and value.

By working with Applied Research for performance management you will gain:

Proper alignment between performance management systems and business objectives, so that investments in HR and related systems achieve the desired results